Outer door handle, especially for vehicles

ABSTRACT

An outer door handle for vehicles has a stationary housing in the vehicle door. The handle has a handle arm and acts on a lock arranged within the door. A pivotable latching member serves as a mass latching mechanism and makes the handle actuatable in a release position. Because of its inertia in a crash situation, the latching member reaches an active support position and blocks the handle. The pivot bearing for the latching member is located on the stationary housing. The movable handle arm has a shoulder. A counter shoulder is provided on the latching member. The folding movement path of the shoulder on the handle arm is intersected by the pivot movement path of the counter shoulder. In a crash situation the shoulder comes to rest against the counter shoulder. In the release position, the shoulder passes the counter shoulder upon handle actuation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to an outer door handle comprising a housingstationarily arranged in the door, comprising a bearing for a manuallyactuatable handle on the housing, especially for a folding handlefoldable about a hinge axis horizontally arranged or slantedly arrangedrelative to the horizontal, wherein the handle has a handle arm and uponhandle actuation acts on a lock arranged within the door, and comprisinga pivotable latching member serving as a mass latching mechanism, whichis normally in an ineffective release position relative to a supportsurface provided on the housing and, in this way, makes the handleactuatable, which, however, as a result of the inertia of its masses, ina crash situation reaches an active support position on this supportlocation and thus blocks the handle. Here, so-called “mass latchingmechanisms” are provided which act as an automatic locking device on thefolding handle in a crash situation. The mass latching mechanisms areformed as pivotable latching members and ensure that during a lateralimpact on the vehicle the door with its lock remains in the lockedstate. During a crash, acceleration forces occur. These forces are usedby the masses of the latching member. In a crash situation, the latchingmember is moved by these forces into a support position relative to asupport surface on the housing where the movement of the handle isblocked.

2. Description of Related Art

In the known outer door handle of this kind (DE 196 25 392 A1) the pivotbearing for the latching member is on the movable handle arm. Here thelatching member is supported in a freely pendulous way. In this knownouter door handle, the handle arm which is foldable together with thehandle, on the one hand, and the latching member pivotably supported onthe handle arm, on the other hand, form a modular unit movable togetherupon handle actuation. In this connection, the latching member movespendulously freely on the movable handle arm. In this outer door handle,the handle is a so-called “folding handle” where a hinge axle issupported horizontally within the housing. However, the invention isalso suitable for outer door handles with handles embodied differently,for example, in connection with “pulling handles” discussed in thefollowing. The latching member usually points away with its free massend, which is provided with a toothing, from a counter toothing providedon the housing. In a crash situation the mass end of the latching memberis pivoted by the active inertia forces and engages with its toothingthe counter toothing on the housing. Already upon the handle actuationduring regular use, undesirable blockage can occur by means of thelatching member which is entrained. In the support position of thelatching member the support forces are transmitted via the pivot bearingonto the handle arm. The strength of this support action depends on thestability of the bearing of the latching member on the handle arm.

Mass latching mechanisms are also known from outer door handles (DE 19610 200 A1) which are configured as the already mentioned “pullinghandles” having a vertical pivot axis at one end of the handle. Theother end of the handle cooperates with a pivot arm which is supported,in turn, in the housing so as to be pivotable about a substantiallyvertical axis. The invention can be employed, as mentioned above, alsofor such outer door handles. In order to differentiate the movement ofthe pivot arm from the pivot movement of the latching member, in thefollowing description the term “folding movement” will be used in thisconnection, even though this term more closely fits the aforementionedconfiguration of the door handled as a folding handle. In the knownouter door handles configured as a pulling handle the mass latchingmechanism is a pivotable spring-loaded lever supported rotatably in apivot arm. In this case, the mass latching mechanism, in analogy to theknown folding handle, is thus pivotably supported in a component movableby the pulling handle. Therefore, the analog disadvantages as in thecase of the above discussed folding handle are present.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention has the object to develop an inexpensive, compact outerdoor handle of the aforementioned kind which is reliable and whichwithstands high loads. This is achieved according to the invention inthat the pivot bearing for the latching member is located on thestationary housing, that the movable handle arm has a shoulder and thatthis shoulder has correlated therewith a counter shoulder on thelatching member, that the folding movement path of the shoulder arrangedon the handle arm is intersected by the pivot movement path of thecounter shoulder on the latching member and in the crash situation theshoulder comes to rest against the counter shoulder, that, however,normally in the release position of the latching member, the shoulder onthe handle arm passes the counter shoulder of the latching member uponhandle actuation.

According to the invention, the latching member is not pivotablysupported on a movable component, like the handle arm or the pivot armprovided for this purpose in the prior art, but on a stationarycomponent, i.e., on the stationary housing. Accordingly, the pivotbearing axis can be arranged external to the force transmission pathwhich receives the support forces during blockage. The support positionin the crash situation is realized with the invention in that themovable handle arm with a shoulder comes to rests against a countershoulder on the latching member because the latching member, as a resultof the inertia forces occurring during the crash situation, has beenpivoted previously into its support position relative to the supportlocation, also provided here, on the housing. The folding movement pathof the shoulder intersects the pivot movement path of the latchingmember which is entirety separately supported relative to it, i.e., onthe housing. In the normal situation, when the latching member is in itsrelease position, the folding movement path of the shoulder provided onthe handle arm or the pivot arm extends past the counter shoulder of thelatching member.

However, in the normal situation a certain deflection movement of thelatching member can occur. Already during the conventional handleactuation a small pivot movement of the latching member occurs withoutthe latching member reaching its full support position relative to thehousing. With this empty run movement of the locking member, whichresults already in the normal situation, its functionality in the crashsituation is ensured. A freezing of the latching member on its pivotbearing because of extended periods of non-use is therefore not to befeared.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further measures and advantages of the invention result from the furtherdependent claims, the following description, and the drawings. In thedrawings the invention is illustrated with one embodiment. It is shownin:

FIG. 1 the back side of the housing in a plan view which is providedwith a folding handle not illustrated here;

FIG. 2 a cross-section of the outer door handle of FIG. 1 along theindicated section line II—II in the rest position of the folding handle,which is indicated only by dash-dotted lines and whose pivot movementtakes place together with the hatched handle arm, wherein the restposition as well as the working position of these components isillustrated;

FIG. 3 in a section corresponding to that of FIG. 2 the same outer doorhandle when its folding handle is in an intermediate position betweenthe two positions illustrated in FIG. 1; and

FIGS. 4+5 again the sections of FIG. 2 when a crash situation ispresent, in particular, in FIG. 4 the initial phase and in FIG. 5 theend phase of such an impact.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The outer door handle illustrated in the Figures comprises a housing 10of which in FIG. 1, as already mentioned, the backside 12 is visible. Onthe opposite front side 11 the actual manually actuatable handle 20 isarranged whose position, as already mentioned, is illustrated in FIG. 2in a dash-dotted line. In the present case this is the folding handlealready discussed above which is foldable about a hinge axis 13 arrangedhorizontally and indicated by dash-dotted lines in FIG. 1. In thisconnection, the housing 10 has two spaced-apart bearing brackets 14. Thevisible side 11 of the housing provides with a concave depression 15,illustrated in FIG. 2, which is at least partially covered by thefolding handle 20 and is provided space for allowing engagement by thehand when using the handle.

In this embodiment a handle arm 21 is fixedly connected for commonrotation to the folding handle 20 by connecting means, not illustratedin detail. The two components 20, 21 thus form a commonly moved modularunit upon handle actuation. While the folding handle 20 is arranged onthe visible side 11 of the housing 10, the handle arm 12 is arranged atthe backside. The handle 20 and the handle arm 21 are positionedangularly to one another. They are arranged on the same hinge axis 13but on spaced-apart sections 16, 17. While the folding handle 20 issupported on the central section 17 positioned between the two bracketspairs 14, the arm 21 engages the outer section 16 of the hinge axis 13arranged on one side of the bracket 14. Because of the slanted positionof the hinge axis 13, the plane 23, illustrated in dash-dotted lines inFIG. 1, of the folding movement is also arranged at a slant, the foldingmovement being indicated in FIG. 2 by the arrow 25.

The hinge axis 13 could however also extend horizontally so that thefolding movement plane 23 would then extend vertically. A nose 22projects laterally from the handle arm 21, as illustrated in FIG. 1; thenose has a shoulder 24 at the side facing the housing 10 which shoulderis effective for entrainment. When the handle 20 has been moved from itsrest position in FIG. 2 into its working position 20′ by a handleactuation indicated by the arrow 26 in FIG. 2, the nose can enterthrough a cutout the interior 27 of the housing. In this workingposition 20′ of the handle, the nose 22 has reached a working position22′ illustrated in FIG. 2 and also shown in dash-dotted lines. Itsfolding movement is illustrated by the arrow 25 and is carried out onthe circular folding movement path 28 indicated in a dotted line in FIG.2.

In the interior 27 of the housing a latching member 30 is arranged in aspecial way which acts automatically as a so-called “mass latchingmember”. The latching member 30 is always stationarily supported for itspivot action by means of the pin 31 arranged in the housing 10. Itspivot movement path 38 is also indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 2. Thelatching member 30 is under the effect of a spring force 41 of a torsionspring 40 or the like which, as will be explained in more detail inconnection with FIG. 4, is supported with one end on a cam 32 of thelatching member and with the other end on a stationary stop 18 in thehousing 10. By means of the spring force 41 the latching member 30 issecured in its position illustrated in FIG. 2. This position isdetermined by contacting a counter stop 37 provided on the latchingmember 30 and illustrated in FIG. 4 of the latching member on thealready mentioned stop 18 in the housing 10. A counter cam 33 on thelatching member 30 is correlated with the cam 32, as illustrated in FIG.4, and determines one latching end 39 of the latching member 30. In theposition illustrated in FIG. 2 of the latching member 30, this latchingend 39 is at a spacing from a support location 19 provided on thehousing 10. In the position of FIG. 2 the latching member 30, aside fromthe aforementioned spring force 41, is thus free so that this positionwill be referred to in the following as “release position” for short.

This is changed only when a crash situation occurs which is illustratedin FIGS. 4 and 5. In this case, inertia forces act on the masses of thetwo projections 32, 33 which transfer the latching member into theposition 30′ illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5. The inertia forces that arecaused are sufficient in order to overcome the small spring force 41. Inthis position 30′ the latching end 39 of the latching member 30 issupported on the support location 19 of the housing. Accordingly, thisposition 30′ will be referred to for short in the following as “supportposition” of the locking member. This support position 30′ occurs in thecrash situation.

The initial phase of the crash situation is shown in FIG. 4. In thisconnection, the latching member reaches very quickly the describedsupport position 30′ in the housing 10. The inertia forces which arecaused by the acceleration in the crash situation act, of course, alsoon the handle 20 and on the handle arm 21 which is movable together withit. This modular unit 20, 21 is also under the effect of a restoringspring, not illustrated in detail, which has the tendency to secure thehandle in the rest position 20 illustrated in FIG. 2. This handlespring, however, has a greater restoring force in comparison to thespring force 41 of the latching member 30, 30′. Because of this andbecause of the constructive conditions, the inertia forces occurringduring the crash situation act only after a certain delay on thismodular unit 20, 21. The handle arm may have moved in the crashsituation into the minimally pivoted position 21′″ illustrated in FIG.5; however, a further pivot movement of the modular unit releasing thelock into the working position described in connection with FIG. 2 isprevented. The nose which is in the position 22′″ of FIG. 5 is in factsupported by means of its aforementioned shoulder 24 on the countershoulder 34 of the latching member which is in the support position 30′.This counter shoulder 34 in the present case is comprised of an end faceof the counter cam 33. The inertia force which is illustrated in FIG. 5by the force arrow 42 is transmitted by the nose 22′″ via the countercam 33, the latching end 39, and the support position 19 directly ontothe housing 10 and thus becomes ineffective. When the inertia force 42ends after the crash, the spring 40 returns the latching member againinto the release position 30 illustrated in FIG. 2.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the counter shoulder 34 provided on thecounter cam 33 forms one flank of a groove whose other groove flank isformed by the corresponding end face of the cam 32. The thus resultinggroove 43 has an inner width which is somewhat greater than the width ofthe nose 22 provided on the handle arm. Accordingly, the nose can bemoved from its already mentioned rest position 22, illustrated in solidlines in FIG. 2, along the folding movement path 28, also alreadymentioned and indicated by a dotted line, through the groove 43 into thealready described working position 22′, illustrated in FIG. 2 indash-dotted lines, without this causing the aforementioned collisionsbetween the shoulder 24 of the moving handle arm and the countershoulder 34 of the latching member. The folding movement path 28, thedescribed pivot movement path 38, and the counter shoulder 34 intersectone another, as illustrated in FIG. 2, at the point of intersection 29.This leads in the crash situation to the collision shown in FIG. 5. Thegroove 43 is however over portions thereof narrowed by a projection 44illustrated in FIG. 3 so that already for a normal handle actuation 26of FIG. 2 a small entrainment of the latching member 30 is realizedwhich will be explained in more detail in connection with FIG. 3.

In the release position 30 of the latching member this projection 44projects into the folding movement path of the nose 22 illustrated byarrow 25 in FIG. 2. This position is also indicated in FIG. 3 bydash-dotted lines. With this folding movement 25 the nose impacts on theprojection 44 and entrains the latching member partially 46 up to anintermediate position 22″. During the further course of the handleactuation 26 in which the nose describes the full angle 45 marked inFIG. 2, the latching member is again released. This point of release isillustrated in FIG. 3. Here the intermediate position 30″ of thelatching member is illustrated where at this moment the release of theprojection by the nose 22″ of the handle arm illustrated in thecorresponding intermediate position 21′ is realized. In thisintermediate position 30″ the latching member has been pivoted about apartial angle 46 which is smaller than the aforementioned full angle 45.In the intermediate position 30″ the latching member with its latchingend 39 is still clearly spaced from its support location 19 on thehousing; between the components 19, 39 a gap 47 exists (FIG. 3).

The projection 44 is provided with a leading slant 49 extending in thedirection of the folding movement 25. The size of the partial angle 26characterizing the intermediate position 30″ depends inter alia on theheight of the projection 44. In the borderline situation of FIG. 3, theprojection 44 is supported on the narrow side of the nose 22′ facing thehinge axis 13 illustrated therein. Upon further completion of thefolding movement 25, the shoulder 22″ moves away again from theprojection 44 of the latching member 30″ when following its foldingmovement path 28, already explained in connection with FIG. 2, up to itsworking position 22′. The released latching member 30″ is then returnedagain as a result of the force effect 41 of the restoring spring 40 intoits release position 30 shown in FIG. 2. Upon handle actuation 26, thelatching member carries out only a small pendulous movement in theamount of the aforementioned partial angle 46.

The projection 44, as shown in FIG. 4, is positioned on the innersurface 35 of the cam 32. In intermediate position 30″ of the latchingmember of the handle arm has moved into the already mentionedintermediate position 21″, in particular, by the angular distance 48illustrated in FIG. 3. The projection 44 is recessed relative to the endface of the cam 32 limiting the groove 43. In the release position ofFIG. 2, the nose 22 is aligned with the entrance of the groove and thegroove 43 provides, aside from the afore described pendulous movement 46at the beginning of actuation, a passage for the nose 22 of the handlearm 21.

List of Reference Numerals

10 housing

11 front side of 10

12 backside of 10

13 hinge axis on 10

14 bearing brackets for 13 on 10

15 depression of 10 on 11

16 outer section of 13 for 21

17 center section of 13 for 20

18 stop on 40 in 10

19 support location on 10 for 39 of 30′

20 folding handle (rest position)

20′ working position of 20

21 handle arm 20 (rest position)

21″ intermediate position of 21 (FIG. 3)

21′″ minimally pivoted position of 21 (FIG. 5)

22 nose on 21 (rest position)

22′ intermediate position of 22 (FIG. 3)

22″ intermediate position of 22 (FIG. 3)

22′″ minimally pivoted position of 22 (FIG. 5)

23 plane of folding movement of 21 (FIG. 1)

24 shoulder on 21

25 folding movement arrow (FIG. 2)

26 arrow of manual handle actuation

27 interior of housing of 10

28 folding movement path of 22 to 22′

29 point of intersection of 28 and 38 (FIG. 2)

30 latching member (working position)

30′ support position of 30 (FIGS. 4, 5)

30″ intermediate position of 30

31 pivot bearing pin for 30 on 10

32 cam on 30

33 counter cam on 30

34 end face on 33, counter shoulder for 24

35 inner surface of 32

37 counter stop on 30 for 18

38 pivot movement path of 30 (FIG. 2)

39 latching end of 30 (FIGS. 4, 5)

40 restoring spring for 30, tension spring

41 spring force of 40

42 inertia force (FIG. 5)

43 groove between 32, 33

44 projection in 43

45 full angle between 22, 22′ (FIG. 2)

46 partial angle between 30, 30″, pendulous movement (FIG. 3)

47 gap between 19, 39

48 angular distance between 22, 22″ (FIG. 3)

49 leading slant of 44 for 22, 22″

What is claimed is:
 1. An outer door handle for vehicles, comprising: ahousing (10) stationarily arranged in a door; a bearing (14) forsupporting a manually actuatable folding handle (20) on the housing(10), wherein the handle (20) is foldable about a hinge axis (13)horizontally arranged or slantedly arranged relative to the horizontal;wherein the handle (20) has a handle arm (21) and, upon handle actuation(26), acts on a lock arranged within the door; a pivotable (38) latchingmember (30) arranged on the stationary housing and serving as a masslatching mechanism active only in a crash situation, wherein thelatching member, when inactive, has an ineffective release position (30)relative to a support surface (19) provided on the housing (11), whereinthe handle (20) is not blocked and is actuatable (26) when the latchingmember (30) is in the ineffective release position; wherein the latchingmember (30) in a crash situation, as a result of an inertia of masses ofthe latching member (30), moves from the ineffective release positioninto an active support position (30′) on the support location (19) andblocks the handle (20); wherein the latching member (30) has a pivotbearing (31) located on the stationary housing (11); wherein the movablehandle arm (21) has a shoulder (24) and the latching member (30) has acounter shoulder (34); wherein in a crash situation a folding movementpath (28) of the shoulder (24) arranged on the handle arm (21) isintersected (29) by a pivot movement path (38) of the counter shoulder(34) on the latching member (30) so that in the crash situation theshoulder (24) comes to rest against the counter shoulder (34); whereinin the ineffective release position of the latching member, the shoulder(24) on the handle arm passes the counter shoulder (34) of the latchingmember (30) when the handle (20) is actuated.
 2. The outer door handleaccording to claim 1, wherein the latching member (30) is subjected to aspring-load (41) in a counter direction to a pivot movement resulting ina crash situation, and wherein the ineffective release position of thelatching member (30) is determined by a stop (18) provided on thehousing (11), wherein the locking member (30) rests against the stop(18) as a result of the spring-load (41).
 3. The outer door handleaccording to claim 1, wherein the latching member (30) has a projection(44) which already in the ineffective release position of the latchingmember projects into the folding movement path (28) of the handle arm(21), wherein, when beginning actuation (26) of the handle (20), thehandle arm (21) engages the projection (44) and entrains the latchingmember (30) at least partially, wherein during further handle actuation(26) the handle arm (21) releases the projection (44) before thelatching member (30) reaches the active support position (30′).
 4. Theouter door handle according to claim 3, wherein the shoulder (24) isformed by a nose (22) provided on the handle arm (21), wherein thecounter shoulder (34) on the latching member (30) forms one flank (33)of a pair of flanks (22, 33) delimiting a groove (43) in the latchingmember (30), wherein an inner width of the groove (43), withoutconsidering the projection (44), is smaller or identical to a width ofthe nose (22) present on the handle arm (21), wherein in the ineffectiverelease position of the latching member (30) the nose (22) is alignedwith an entrance of the groove (43) and the groove (43) forms a passagefor the nose (22) upon actuation (26) of the handle (20).
 5. The outerdoor handle according to claim 4, wherein the nose (22) projectslaterally from a plane (23) of a folding movement of the handle (20). 6.The outer door handle according to claim 4, wherein the projection (44)is located on a first one of the flanks (32) of the pair of flanks. 7.The outer door handle according to claim 6, wherein the latching member(30) has a cam (32) providing the first flank, wherein an inner surface(35) of the cam (32) facing the groove (43) supports the projection(44).
 8. The outer door handle according to claim 7, wherein a secondone of the flanks of the pair of flanks opposite the cam (32) is formedby a counter cam located on the latching member (30), wherein thecounter cam (33) has an end face forming the counter shoulder (34) forthe nose (22) of the handle arm (21).
 9. The outer door handle accordingto claim 8, wherein the projection (44) is recessed relative to the endface of the cam (32) limiting the groove (43).
 10. The outer door handleaccording to claim 3, wherein the projection (44) has a leading slant(49) for engaging the nose (22) provided on the handle arm (21).
 11. Theouter door handle according to claim 3, wherein the projection (44) hasa projection height being passed by the handle arm (21) already afterpassing through a partial angle (48) of a full angle (45) required forcompletion of the folding movement path (25) so that the latching member(30) is released by the handle arm and has only passed through a partialportion (46) of the pivot movement path (38) between the ineffectiverelease position (30) and the active support position (30′).
 12. Theouter door handle according to claim 1, wherein the handle (20) isarranged on a visible side (11) of the housing (10), wherein the handlearm (21) is arranged on a back side (12) of the housing (10) and thehandle arm (21) with the shoulder (24) moves upon handle actuation (26)from behind into an interior (27) of the housing.
 13. The outer doorhandle according to claim 1, wherein the handle (20) and the handle arm(21) are comprised of two separately manufactured components fixedlyconnected to one another for common rotation and forming a commonlyfoldable modular unit.
 14. The outer door handle according to claim 13,wherein the handle (20) and the handle arm (21) define an angle in themodular unit and are supported on different sections (17, 16) of thehinge axis (13).
 15. The outer door handle according to claim 1, whereinthe handle is a pulling handle having an engaging end arranged in thehousing and having an opposed handle end moving upon handle actuation apivot arm supported in the housing and acting on the door lock, whereinthe pivot arm embodies the handle arm (21) provided with the shoulder(24).